Overcome of Router/ Gateway Problems in Wireless Networks
Homer Benny1, Chodagam Suresh Kumar2, Donavalli Venkata Vidya Deepthi3,
Sala Krishna Rao4 & G Samuel Vara Prasad Raju5
1&3
Computer Science and Engineering Department, Sir C R R College of Engineering, Eluru
Computer Science and Engineering Department, Anurag Engineering College, Kodad
4
Information and Technology Department, Sir C R R College of Engineering,
5
CSSE Department, Andhra Univeristy, Visakhapatnam
E-mail : Homer.benny@gmail.com1, chsuresh_kmr@yahoo.co.in2, deepthidonavalli@yahoo.com3,
skrao71@gmail.com4, gsvprajudr9@yahoo.co.in5
2
data, communications protocol used, scale, topology,
benefit, and organizational scope.
Abstract – In world, main communication media is
Networks. A computer network, or simply a network, is a
collection of computers and other hardware interconnected
by communication channels that allow sharing of resources
and information. Where we can setup communication in
between a small office, offices, towns, cities and any
geographic place in world. Fast way of communicating is
by Networks. Even tough we are using sophisticated
devices to achieve target goal but there are some minor
problems which are under finger tip. Under magnified
glass there are big and irritating. In this paper we will
study about Computer Networks, problems related to
router and solutions related to router. These days, having
access to wireless broadband is an absolute necessity for
home offices and small businesses. And after more than a
decade of innovations, you would think that the standard
wireless gateway/router would be a picture-perfect product
by now. While many routers offer good features, most still
come with flaws that can make life a lot harder, such as
confounding setups or limited security. In paper we follow
some problems and suggest some solutions to the problems.
Communications protocols define the rules and data
formats for exchanging information in a computer
network, and provide the basis for network
programming. Well-known communications protocols
include two Ethernet, a hardware and link layer standard
that is ubiquitous in local area networks, and the Internet
protocol suite, which defines a set of protocols for
internetworking, i.e. for data communication between
multiple networks, as well as host-to-host data transfer,
and application-specific data transmission formats.
Computer networking is sometimes considered a
sub-discipline
of
electrical
engineering,
telecommunications, computer science, information
technology or computer engineering, since it relies upon
the theoretical and practical application of these
disciplines.
II. PROPERTIES OF COMPUTER NETWORKS
I.
INTRODUCTION
Facilitate communications
A computer network, or simply a network, is a
collection of computers and other hardware
interconnected by communication channels that allow
sharing of resources and information. Where at least one
process in one device is able to send/receive data
to/from at least one process residing in a remote device,
then the two devices are said to be in a network. A
network is a group of devices connected to each other.
Networks may be classified into a wide variety of
characteristics, such as the medium used to transport the
Using a network, people can communicate
efficiently and easily via email, instant messaging, chat
rooms, telephone, video telephone calls, and video
conferencing.
Permit sharing of files, data, and other types of
information
In a network environment, authorized users may
access data and information stored on other computers
on the network. The capability of providing access to
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data and information on shared storage devices is an
important feature of many networks.
copper cabling that can be utilized for both voice and
data transmission. The use of two wires twisted together
helps to reduce crosstalk and electromagnetic induction.
Share network and computing resources
The transmission speed ranges from 2 million bits
per second to 10 billion bits per second. Twisted pair
cabling comes in two forms: unshielded twisted pair
(UTP) and shielded twisted-pair (STP). Each form
comes in several category ratings, designed for use in
various scenarios.
In a networked environment, each computer on a
network may access and use resources provided by
devices on the network, such as printing a document on
a shared network printer. Distributed computing uses
computing resources across a network to accomplish
tasks.
Coaxial cable is widely used for cable television
systems, office buildings, and other work-sites for local
area networks. The cables consist of copper or
aluminum wire surrounded by an insulating layer
(typically a flexible material with a high dielectric
constant), which itself is surrounded by a conductive
layer. The insulation helps minimize interference and
distortion. Transmission speed ranges from 200 million
bits per second to more than 500 million bits per second.
May be insecure
A computer network may be used by computer
hackers to deploy computer viruses or computer worms
on devices connected to the network, or to prevent these
devices from normally accessing the network (denial of
service).
May interfere with other technologies
Power line communication strongly disturbs certain
forms of radio communication, e.g., amateur radio. It
may also interfere with last mile access technologies
such as ADSL and VDSL.
ITU-T G.hn technology uses existing home wiring
(coaxial cable, phone lines and power lines) to create a
high-speed (up to 1 Gigabit/s) local area network.
An optical fiber is a glass fiber. It uses pulses of
light to transmit data. Some advantages of optical fibers
over metal wires are less transmission loss, immunity
from electromagnetic radiation, and very fast
transmission speed, up to trillions of bits per second.
One can use different colors of lights to increase the
number of messages being sent over a fiber optic cable.
May be difficult to set up
A complex computer network may be difficult to
set up. It may also be very costly to set up an effective
computer network in a large organization or company.
III. COMMUNICATION MEDIA
Computer networks can be classified according to
the hardware and associated software technology that is
used to interconnect the individual devices in the
network, such as electrical cable (HomePNA, power line
communication, G.hn), optical fiber, and radio waves
(wireless LAN). In the OSI model, these are located at
levels 1 and 2.
Wireless technologies
Terrestrial microwave – Terrestrial microwave
communication uses Earth-based transmitters and
receivers resembling satellite dishes. Terrestrial
microwaves are in the low-gigahertz range, which limits
all communications to line-of-sight. Relay stations are
spaced approximately 48 km (30 mi) apart.
A well-known family of communication media is
collectively known as Ethernet. It is defined by IEEE
802 and utilizes various standards and media that enable
communication between devices. Wireless LAN
technology is designed to connect devices without
wiring. These devices use radio waves or infrared
signals as a transmission medium.
Communications
satellites –
The
satellites
communicate via microwave radio waves, which are not
deflected by the Earth's atmosphere. The satellites are
stationed in space, typically in geosynchronous orbit
35,400 km (22,000 mi) above the equator. These Earthorbiting systems are capable of receiving and relaying
voice, data, and TV signals.
Wired technologies
Cellular and PCS systems use several radio
communications technologies. The systems divide the
region covered into multiple geographic areas. Each
area has a low-power transmitter or radio relay antenna
device to relay calls from one area to the next area.
The order of the following wired technologies is,
roughly, from slowest to fastest transmission speed.
Twisted pair wire is the most widely used medium for
telecommunication. Twisted-pair cabling consist of
copper wires that are twisted into pairs. Ordinary
telephone wires consist of two insulated copper wires
twisted into pairs. Computer networking cabling (wired
Ethernet as defined by IEEE 802.3) consists of 4 pairs of
Radio and spread spectrum technologies – Wireless
local area network use a high-frequency radio
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technology similar to digital cellular and a lowfrequency radio technology. Wireless LANs use spread
spectrum technology to enable communication between
multiple devices in a limited area. IEEE 802.11 defines
a common flavor of open-standards wireless radio-wave
technology.
The standards include ISO/IEC 18092 and those defined
by the NFC Forum, which was founded in 2004 by
Nokia, Philips and Sony, and now has more than 160
members. The Forum also promotes NFC and certifies
device compliance.
Infrared communication can transmit signals for
small distances, typically no more than 10 meters. In
most cases, line-of-sight propagation is used, which
limits the physical positioning of communicating
devices.
A global area network (GAN) is a network used for
supporting mobile across an arbitrary number of
wireless LANs, satellite coverage areas, etc. The key
challenge in mobile communications is handing off user
communications from one local coverage area to the
next. In IEEE Project 802, this involves a succession of
terrestrial wireless LANs.
IV. SCALE OF NETWORKS
Fig. 1 : NFC.
Computer Network types by geographical scope
1.
NFC
2.
Body (BAN)
3.
Personal (PAN)
4.
Near-me (NAN)
5.
Local (LAN)
1.
Home (HAN)
2.
Storage (SAN)
6.
Campus (CAN)
7.
Backbone
8.
Metropolitan
9.
Wide
2. Body Area Network - Body area network (BAN),
wireless body area network (WBAN) or body sensor
network (BSN) are terms used to describe the
application of wearable computing devices. This will
enable wireless communication between several
miniaturized body sensor units (BSU) and a single body
central unit (BCU) worn at the human body. The
development of WBAN technology started around 1995
by considering wireless personal area network (WPAN)
technologies for communications on, near and around
the human body. Later around 2001, this application of
WPAN has been named as body area network (BAN) to
represent the communications on, in and near the body
only. A WBAN system can use WPAN wireless
technologies as gateways to reach longer ranges.
10. Internet
3. Personal Area Network - A personal area network
(PAN) is a computer network used for communication
among computer and different information technological
devices close to one person. Some examples of devices
that are used in a PAN are personal computers, printers,
fax machines, telephones, PDAs, scanners, and even
video game consoles. A PAN may include wired and
wireless devices. The reach of a PAN typically extends
to 10 meters. A wired PAN is usually constructed with
USB and Firewire connections while technologies such
as Bluetooth and infrared communication typically form
a wireless PAN.
11. Interplanetary Internet
1. Near Field Communication - Near field
communication
(NFC) is a set of standards for
smartphones and similar
devices to establish radio
communication with each other by touching them
together or bringing them into close proximity, usually
no more than a few centimeters. Present and anticipated
applications include contactless transactions, data
exchange, and simplified setup of more complex
communications such as Wi-Fi. Communication is also
possible between an NFC device and an unpowered
NFC chip, called a "tag". NFC standards cover
communications protocols and data exchange formats,
and are based on existing radio-frequency identification
(RFID) standards including ISO/IEC 14443 and FeliCa.
4. Local Area Network – A local area network (LAN)
is a network that connects computers and devices in a
limited geographical area such as home, school,
computer laboratory, office building, or closely
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positioned group of buildings. Each computer or device
on the network is a node. Current wired LANs are most
likely to be based on Ethernet technology, although new
standards like ITU-T G.hn also provide a way to create a
wired LAN using existing home wires (coaxial cables,
phone lines and power lines).
primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk
arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible
to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached
devices to the operating system. A SAN typically has its
own network of storage devices that are generally not
accessible through the local area network by other
devices. The cost and complexity of SANs dropped in
the early 2000s to levels allowing wider adoption across
both enterprise and small to medium sized business
environments.
7. Campus Area Network – A campus area network
(CAN) is a computer network made up of an
interconnection of LANs within a limited geographical
area. The networking equipment (switches, routers) and
transmission media (optical fiber, copper plant, Cat5
cabling etc.) are almost entirely owned (by the campus
tenant / owner: an enterprise, university, government
etc.).
In the case of a university campus-based campus
network, the network is likely to link a variety of
campus buildings including, for example, academic
colleges or departments, the university library, and
student residence halls.
Fig. 2 : Typical library network, in a branching tree
topology and controlled access to resources.
A sample LAN is depicted in the accompanying
diagram. All interconnected devices must understand the
network layer (layer 3), because they are handling
multiple subnets (the different colors). Those inside the
library, which have only 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet
connections to the user device and a Gigabit Ethernet
connection to the central router, could be called "layer 3
switches" because they only have Ethernet interfaces
and must understand IP. It would be more correct to call
them access routers, where the router at the top is a
distribution router that connects to the Internet and
academic networks' customer access routers.
8. Backbone Network – A backbone network is part of
a computer network infrastructure that interconnects
various pieces of network, providing a path for the
exchange of information between different LANs or
subnetworks. A backbone can tie together diverse
networks in the same building, in different buildings in a
campus environment, or over wide areas. Normally, the
backbone's capacity is greater than that of the networks
connected to it.
A large corporation which has many locations may
have a backbone network that ties all of these locations
together, for example, if a server cluster needs to be
accessed by different departments of a company which
are located at different geographical locations. The
equipment which ties these departments together
constitute the network backbone. Network performance
management including network congestion are critical
parameters taken into account when designing a network
backbone.
The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to
WANs (Wide Area Networks), include their higher data
transfer rates, smaller geographic range, and no need for
leased telecommunication lines. Current Ethernet or
other IEEE 802.3 LAN technologies operate at data
transfer rates up to 10 Gbit/s. IEEE has projects
investigating the standardization of 40 and 100 Gbit/s.
LANs can be connected to Wide area network by using
routers.
5. Home Area Network - A home area network (HAN)
is a residential LAN which is used for communication
between digital devices typically deployed in the home,
usually a small number of personal computers and
accessories, such as printers and mobile computing
devices. An important function is the sharing of Internet
access, often a broadband service through a cable TV or
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) provider.
A specific case of a backbone network is the
Internet backbone, which is the set of wide-area network
connections and core routers that interconnect all
networks connected to the Internet.
9. Metropolitan Network – A Metropolitan area
network (MAN) is a large computer network that
usually spans a city or a large campus.
10. Wide Area Network – A wide area network (WAN)
is a computer network that covers a large geographic
area such as a city, country, or spans even
6. Storage Area Network - A storage area network
(SAN) is a dedicated network that provides access to
consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are
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intercontinental distances, using a communications
channel that combines many types of media such as
telephone lines, cables, and air waves. A WAN often
uses transmission facilities provided by common
carriers, such as telephone companies. WAN
technologies generally function at the lower three layers
of the OSI reference model: the physical layer, the data
link layer, and the network layer.
overlay are connected by virtual or logical links, each of
which corresponds to a path, perhaps through many
physical links, in the underlying network. The topology
of the overlay network may (and often does) differ from
that of the underlying one.
For example, many peer-to-peer networks are
overlay networks because they are organized as nodes of
a virtual system of links run on top of the Internet. The
Internet was initially built as an overlay on the telephone
network.
11. Internetwork – An internetwork is the connection of
multiple computer networks via a common routing
technology using routers. The Internet is an aggregation
of many connected internetworks spanning the Earth.
The most striking example of an overlay network,
however, is the Internet itself: At the IP layer, each node
can reach any other by a direct connection to the desired
IP address, thereby creating a fully connected network;
the underlying network, however, is composed of a
mesh-like interconnect of subnetworks of varying
topologies (and, in fact, technologies). Address
resolution and routing are the means which allows the
mapping of the fully connected IP overlay network to
the underlying ones.
V. NETWORK TOPOLOGY
1) Common layouts
A network topology is the layout of the
interconnections of the nodes of a computer network.
Common layouts are:

A bus network: all nodes are connected to a
common medium along this medium. This was the
layout used in the original Ethernet, called
10BASE5 and 10BASE2.

A star network: all nodes are connected to a special
central node. This is the typical layout found in a
Wireless LAN, where each wireless client connects
to the central Wireless access point.

A ring network: each node is connected to its left
and right neighbour node, such that all nodes are
connected and that each node can reach each other
node by traversing nodes left- or rightwards. The
Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) made use
of such a topology.

A mesh network: each node is connected to an
arbitrary number of neighbours in such a way that
there is at least one traversal from any node to any
other.
Overlay networks have been around since the
invention of networking when computer systems were
connected over telephone lines using modems, before
any data network existed as shown Fig. 3.
A fully connected network: each node is connected
to every other node in the network.
Note that the physical layout of the nodes in a
network may not necessarily reflect the network
topology. As an example, with FDDI, the network
topology is a ring (actually two counter-rotating rings),
but the physical topology is a star, because all
neighboring connections are routed via a central
physical location.
Fig. 3 : A sample overlay network: IP over SONET over
optical.
Another example of an overlay network is a
distributed hash table, which maps keys to nodes in the
network. In this case, the underlying network is an IP
network, and the overlay network is a table (actually a
map) indexed by keys.
Overlay networks have also been proposed as a way
to improve Internet routing, such as through quality of
service guarantees to achieve higher-quality streaming
media. Previous proposals such as IntServ, DiffServ,
Overlay network
An overlay network is a virtual computer network
that is built on top of another network. Nodes in the
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and IP Multicast have not seen wide acceptance largely
because they require modification of all routers in the
network. On the other hand, an overlay network can be
incrementally deployed on end-hosts running the
overlay protocol software, without cooperation from
Internet service providers. The overlay has no control
over how packets are routed in the underlying network
between two overlay nodes, but it can control, for
example, the sequence of overlay nodes a message
traverses before reaching its destination.
small amount of time to regenerate the signal. This can
cause a propagation delay which can affect network
communication when there are several repeaters in a
row. Many network architectures limit the number of
repeaters that can be used in a row (e.g. Ethernet's 5-4-3
rule).
Bridges
A network bridge connects multiple network
segments at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI
model. Bridges broadcast to all ports except the port on
which the broadcast was received. However, bridges do
not promiscuously copy traffic to all ports, as hubs do,
but learn which MAC addresses are reachable through
specific ports. Once the bridge associates a port and an
address, it will send traffic for that address to that port
only.
For example, Akamai Technologies manages an
overlay network that provides reliable, efficient content
delivery (a kind of multicast). Academic research
includes end system multicast and overcast for
multicast; RON (resilient overlay network) for resilient
routing; and OverQoS for quality of service guarantees,
among others.
Bridges learn the association of ports and addresses
by examining the source address of frames that it sees
on various ports. Once a frame arrives through a port, its
source address is stored and the bridge assumes that
MAC address is associated with that port. The first time
that a previously unknown destination address is seen,
the bridge will forward the frame to all ports other than
the one on which the frame arrived.
VI. BASIC HARDWARE COMPONENTS
Apart from the physical communications media
themselves as described above, networks comprise
additional
basic
hardware
building
blocks
interconnecting their terminals, such as network
interface cards (NICs), hubs, bridges, switches, and
routers.
Network interface cards
Bridges come in three basic types:
A network card, network adapter, or NIC (network
interface card) is a piece of computer hardware designed
to allow computers to physically access a networking
medium. It provides a low-level addressing system
through the use of MAC addresses.
Each Ethernet network interface has a unique MAC
address which is usually stored in a small memory
device on the card, allowing any device to connect to the
network without creating an address conflict. Ethernet
MAC addresses are composed of six octets. Uniqueness
is maintained by the IEEE, which manages the Ethernet
address space by assigning 3-octet prefixes to equipment
manufacturers. The list of prefixes is publicly available.
Each manufacturer is then obliged to both use only their
assigned prefix(es) and to uniquely set the 3-octet suffix
of every Ethernet interface they produce.

Local bridges: Directly connect LANs

Remote bridges: Can be used to create a wide area
network (WAN) link between LANs. Remote
bridges, where the connecting link is slower than
the end networks, largely have been replaced with
routers.

Wireless bridges: Can be used to join LANs or
connect remote stations to LANs.
Switches
A network switch is a device that forwards and
filters OSI layer 2 datagrams (chunks of data
communication) between ports (connected cables) based
on the MAC addresses in the packets. A switch is
distinct from a hub in that it only forwards the frames to
the ports involved in the communication rather than all
ports connected. A switch breaks the collision domain
but represents itself as a broadcast domain. Switches
make forwarding decisions of frames on the basis of
MAC addresses. A switch normally has numerous ports,
facilitating a star topology for devices, and cascading
additional switches. Some switches are capable of
routing based on Layer 3 addressing or additional
logical levels; these are called multi-layer switches. The
term switch is used loosely in marketing to encompass
Repeaters and hubs
A repeater is an electronic device that receives a
signal, cleans it of unnecessary noise, regenerates it, and
retransmits it at a higher power level, or to the other side
of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer
distances without degradation. In most twisted pair
Ethernet configurations, repeaters are required for cable
that runs longer than 100 meters. A repeater with
multiple ports is known as a hub. Repeaters work on the
Physical Layer of the OSI model. Repeaters require a
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devices including routers and bridges, as well as devices
that may distribute traffic on load or by application
content (e.g., a Web URL identifier).
router to another through the networks that constitute
the internetwork until it gets to its destination node.
The most familiar type of routers are home and
small office routers that simply pass data, such as web
pages and email, between the home computers and the
owner's cable or DSL modem, which connects to the
Internet through an ISP. More sophisticated routers,
such as enterprise routers, connect large business or ISP
networks up to the powerful core routers that forward
data at high speed along the optical fiber lines of the
Internet backbone. Though routers are typically
dedicated hardware devices, use of software-based
routers has grown increasingly common.
Routers
A router is an internetworking device that forwards
packets between networks by processing information
found in the datagram or packet (Internet protocol
information from Layer 3 of the OSI Model). In many
situations, this information is processed in conjunction
with the routing table (also known as forwarding table).
Routers use routing tables to determine what interface to
forward packets (this can include the "null" also known
as the "black hole" interface because data can go into it,
however, no further processing is done for said data).
A. Problems List
Firewalls
These days, having access to wireless broadband is
an absolute necessity for home offices and small
businesses. And after more than a decade of
innovations, you would think that the standard wireless
gateway/router would be a picture-perfect product by
now. Alas, no.
A firewall is an important aspect of a network with
respect to security. It typically rejects access requests
from unsafe sources while allowing actions from
recognized ones. The vital role firewalls play in network
security grows in parallel with the constant increase in
'cyber' attacks for the purpose of stealing/corrupting
data, planting viruses, etc.
While many routers offer good features, most still
come with flaws that can make life a lot harder, such as
confounding setups or limited security.
VII. PROBLEMS AT ROUTER
What follows are six router problems that, quite
frankly, I find the most annoying. I looked for possible
solutions, and while I didn't find one router that
addressed all my concerns, I did discover features -- and
routers -- that could make things a lot easier.
A router is a device that forwards data packets
between computer networks, creating an overlay
internetwork. A router is connected to two or more data
lines from different networks. Fig. 4 is Cisco Router
ASM/2 – 32EM deployed at CERN (European
Organization for Nuclear Research).
1.
Difficult configuration
The problem: How long does it usually take you to
set up your router? When was the last time you were
able to get it right on the first try? What about when you
wanted to add a new PC to your wireless network? And
how about getting your wireless printer to connect to
your network?
2.
Enabling file sharing from your router
The problem: Why spend money on a separate
network-attached storage (NAS) unit when you can use
your router for sharing files? Many routers come with
USB ports to which you can connect an external USB
drive for simple backup or file sharing.
Fig. 4: Cisco Router ASM/2 – 32EM deployed at CERN
3.
When a data packet comes in one of the lines, the
router reads the address information in the packet to
determine its ultimate destination. Then, using
information in its routing table or routing policy, it
directs the packet to the next network on its journey.
Routers perform the "traffic directing" functions on the
Internet. A data packet is typically forwarded from one
Performing firmware updates
The problem: Router firmware is an important first
line of security defense on your network and needs to be
kept up to date. But finding firmware updates on a
vendor's Web site is not for everyone, and many
vendors don't make it easy. You have to bring up your
browser, go to the vendor's support site and try to track
down the current version for your particular router
model. You then have to download the file to your PC
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and upload it to your router in the right place in the
router's Web control panel screen.
infected domains. (Your actual performance will vary
widely, depending on your Internet provider and, if you
are using a cable modem, how congested your cable line
is).
To complicate matters, vendors often have several
different versions for each router model, because they
make frequent improvements to the router, often
changing chip sets but keeping the version number the
same.
4.
VIII. SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS
1.
Various vendors have tried to make things simpler
with easy-setup CDs or one-click connection buttons,
but they can't cover every possible circumstance.
Buffalo's and Netgear's setup instructions go the extra
mile by explicitly detailing the order in which you need
to you plug everything in before you run the CD. (Cable
modems in particular should be powered on before you
connect your router to them.) That's a nice touch -- but it
assumes you've read the printed instructions that came
with the router. When was the last time you read the
manual before you plugged in your new device?
Enabling temporary wireless access
The problem: If you have visitors or needy
neighbors, do you really want them to have permanent
access to your entire network? Even if you trust them on
your network, do you know how good their own
security is? (For example, will your neighbor's notebook
end up in the hands of his teenager?) If you simply give
a visitor your router password, then you probably need
to change this information when he leaves your home or
office -- which is a real pain.
5.
Possible solutions:
Determining who is on your wireless network
Almost all routers have Web-based configuration
screens, and as long as you remember the device's IP
address, default username and password (which you
should have changed when you set it up), you should be
able to get into the setup screens and make any
adjustments you need. It's just a matter of figuring out
which adjustments are necessary.
The problem: Just because you think your network
is secure doesn't mean that it is. It's probably a good idea
to regularly check to see who is using your router -especially if you haven't changed your router's default
password. However, in a world where it's hard enough
to remember to back up your computer, it's unlikely that
most of us have the time or inclination to regularly
check who has been on our networks.
Best available routers: The Cisco Valet M10, part
of Cisco's recently introduced Valet line, comes with a
USB key that has the configuration software on it. Once
you set up one PC on your network, you use the key to
run the configuration on any other PCs or Macs (the key
also includes Mac software) without having to write
down the wireless encryption key or other information.
And even if we want to, it's not always easy.
Typically, most router Web UIs indicate who is
currently connected, but finding this out requires
digging through many menus. Sometimes the vendors
hide this information under a title like "DHCP client
list" and/or give you just the IP addresses and host
names of current connections.
Wouldn't it be helpful if your router notified you
every time someone connected? Even better, how about
a historical view that shows you when and who
connected to your network over the last week?
6.
Changing your DNS provider
The problem: After you've set up your network, you
probably don't give your Domain Name System settings
any further thought. If you have a cable or DSL modem,
you hook it up and it automatically gets its DNS settings
from the cable or phone company's DNS servers. (If
you're running a large enterprise network, typically you
have your own internal DNS server to provide this
service.)
Fig. 5. : Cisco’s Valet offers a simple setup for
connecting a wireless printer.
Home and small-business users may want to look
into finding an alternative DNS provider. Why bother?
Two good reasons: better browsing performance and
better security against known phishing and malware-
Cisco has also made it a lot easier to set up other
devices, such as wireless printers, by providing a
summary screen with all the relevant information about
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International Journal on Advanced Computer Theory and Engineering (IJACTE)
your wireless network that you can print out for easy
reference when you run the setup program on the USB
key.
also offers a wide variety of access methods, including
FTP and Web sharing, from its setup screen.
3.
Buffalo has a nice diagnostic routine that checks to
see if you have Internet connectivity and that your router
is configured properly. You run it from the Web
configuration console.
Make the update automatic or at least easily
selectable, so you don't have to go through the tortured
process of downloading and uploading the file.
Check the firmware update section in each router's
Web setup screens to see if the router can automatically
upgrade itself.
Apple's AirPort Express is simple to set up and has
some neat features, including the ability to share USB
printers and to share audio across the network to a
connected stereo receiver. You can also extend the range
of your existing AirPort base station, which is
something that most Wi-Fi routers can't easily do. But if
you've got a Windows PC, you've got to install Bonjour,
and adding a new PC to an existing network isn't as easy
as it could be.
2.
Possible solutions:
Best available routers: Belkin's N+ Wireless and
Netgear's RangeMax both have a menu-selectable
software switch to enable the updates. Once this is set,
you can forget about it and be confident that you will
always have the latest firmware.
Possible solutions:
Various routers include USB ports, such as those
from Linksys, Belkin and Netgear.
It's all a matter of what software is used to
configure the USB drive and whether you need anything
else on the Windows or Mac client end to connect to the
shared drive.
Fig. 7: Belkin’s N+ Wireless.
4.
Possible solutions
Best available routers: The Belkin N+ Wireless
Router has a separate software configuration utility that
works for both Windows and Mac systems and needs to
be run only once to set up the external shared drive.
After that, you can connect to the shared drive by
entering its IP address, such as \\192.168.1.1\sharename.
The product isn't perfect, though: There is no way to
password-protect the files on the shared drive.
A good idea would be to grant them temporary
guest access that gives them just an Internet connection
and nothing else on your network, such as shared drives
or printers.
Fig. 6 : Netgear’s USB.
Fig. 8 : Cisco’s Valet provides separate wireless
network for guests.
Vendors have begun to enable this on their routers
in a variety of ways. Belkin, for example, has an option
it calls "Hotel-style," meaning that users are directed to
a Web landing page where they enter a special guest
password. Other vendors make it easy to set up separate
wireless networks just for guests. (If you use Apple's
AirPort Express, on the other hand, you're out of luck -there isn't any guest access.)
The Netgear RangeMax doesn't require any
additional software and can password-protect the files. It
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International Journal on Advanced Computer Theory and Engineering (IJACTE)
Best available routers: The USB key that you can create
with Cisco's Valet can help here as well. You need to
run an automated setup routine from the USB key
(rather than from the Web UI) on each of your guest
computers. Once you do, it will set up a separate
wireless network with a different name and password
that only allows Internet access.
Home Portal 3000 series that comes when you order
service from AT&T U-verse, don't even support
alternative DNS settings. Making matters more difficult,
most of the automated setup routines that routers include
don't allow you to enter your own DNS provider.
So if you've decided to go with an alternative, first
make sure your router supports alternative DNS settings.
If you're not sure, see if you can enter your own DNS
address on your router's Web-based setup screens
instead of just using what your Internet provider gives
you.
5. Possible solutions:
There are lots of enterprise-class wireless monitoring
tools, such as AirMagnet, but, price-wise, these are
typically out of the reach of home and SMB users.
Then try it out, including installing its software to
optimize your individual PC, before messing with any of
your router's settings. After you make the change to
your DNS, there is a Java tool that can test your speed to
see if it makes a difference. Depending on how you're
connected to your Internet provider, it can help either a
lot or not much at all. If it doesn't help, consider going
back to your original settings.
Check out the screens that are usually labeled
"Attached devices" or "DHCP client list" to see who is
connected and using which IP addresses. Some
companies, such as Buffalo, clearly show how various
clients have connected and what wireless devices they
are using.
Best available routers: When Cisco bought the company
Pure Networks, it acquired a piece of software called
Network Magic. The Windows version of Network
Magic will show you a pretty map along with a more
useful network histogram timeline revealing who has
connected when.
Fig. 10 : Belkin’s Router.
Best available routers: Most of the router vendors
allow you to enter this information. If yours doesn't -well, either change your vendor or just live with the
DNS provider you're given.
IX. CONCLUSION
A router is a device that forwards data packets
between computer networks, creating an overlay
internetwork. A router is connected to two or more data
lines from different networks and backbones. When a
data packet comes in one of the lines, the router reads
the address information in the packet to determine its
ultimate destination. Then, using information in its
routing table or routing policy, it directs the packet to
the next network on its journey. Routers perform the
"traffic directing" functions on the Internet. A data
packet is typically forwarded from one router to another
through the networks that constitute the internetwork
until it gets to its destination node. In this paper we
identified some problems related to Router/ gateway.
Our suggestions are not final solutions to the problem.
But they satisfy to some extend.
Fig. 9: Network Magic timeline for Network.
For some reason, Cisco includes this software in
some of its Linksys routers but not the Valet M10 series.
(The Mac version doesn't have the maps or histograms.)
6.
Possible solutions:
Individuals and smaller businesses now have
several alternative providers that are worth considering,
including OpenDNS and Google Public DNS, among
others.
Getting your router vendor to support these servers
is sometimes tricky. A few routers, such as 2Wire's
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International Journal on Advanced Computer Theory and Engineering (IJACTE)
X. REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
Efficient Security Mechanisms for Routing
Protocols by Yih-Chun Hu, Adrian Perrig, David
B Johnson
A New Approach to Interdomain Routing Based
on Secure Multi-Party Computation by Debayan
Gupta, Aaron Segal, Aurojit Panda, Gil Segev
[3]
Ants-Based Routing in Large Scale Mobile AdHoc Networks by M. Heissenbüttel, T. Braun
[4]
Content-Based Addressing and Routing:A
General Model and its Application by Antonio
Carzaniga, David S. Rosenblum, Alexander L.
Wolf
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